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Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Awaiting My Bright and Shiny Objects: Two Books on Anderson County, Tennessee

This is the kind of stuff that excites me. Keeps me off the streets I guess!

I believe I've reached a point where online research is not going to reveal any more about my mysterious 4th great grandparents Mahlon Hibbs (1747-1852?) and his wife Nancy LNU (1764-1846). They appeared to have spent about 20 years in Anderson County, Tennessee (about 1801-1823) before showing up in Putnam County, Indiana in about 1824, and may have been in Tennessee at least as early as 1785.

I'm hoping the next two books I've purchased will help me tie together some of the information I've gleaned from the court minutes one as well as various census and other records. These books may or may not have specific information about my ancestors, but even if they don't I hope they will help me understand the family groups and communities better in Anderson County, Tennessee in its earliest years.

This East Tennessee County was formed in 1801 from parts of Knox and Grainger counties. It lies partly in the valley of East Tennessee and partly on the Cumberland Plateau. This book contains abstracts of the deeds for this county running from 1801 and going through 1831 with some references going back into the late 1700's.

This features a brief but fascinating history of the county, as well as numerous biographical and genealogical sketches of many Anderson County ancestors. Included are nearly forty Revolutionary War veterans that made their home here. Among the personal sketches, you will also find many fully transcribed wills. Through these sketches an interesting history of Anderson County, Tennessee is revealed!

***By the way, a big shout out to Mountain Press publishing. Their works each have an online description including a complete index of all last names mentioned in that work. REALLY helpful if you need to quickly assess if a particular book will have relevant info for you.